Mallorca 0-3 Barcelona: Debut for Marcus Rashford as Hansi Flick’s side grab straightforward win
Barcelona opened their new La Liga campaign with very little fuss and maximum control as they swept aside nine-man Mallorca 3-0 on Thursday night. There was a second-half debut for Marcus Rashford, on loan from Manchester United, but it was the familiar names of Raphinha, Ferran Torres and Lamine Yamal who supplied the goals.
The contest was effectively over before half-time. Less than ten minutes in, Raphinha showed alertness and good movement to head in at the edge of the six-yard box from Yamal’s cross,
Torres doubled the lead with a shot from outside the area just before the hour mark, although Mallorca would have felt hard done by, as play was allowed to continue after centre-back Antonio Raillo had gone down from a shot in the face.
Mallorca’s hopes of posing any sort of threat quickly vanished when Manu Morlanes and Vedat Muriqi were both dismissed in the second half. Morlanes received a second yellow after tripping Yamal, while Muriqi was guilty of a dangerous high-boot challenge on Joan Garcia after he had tried to beat the goalkeeper to a ball over the top.
The two-man deficit left the second half a mere formality. Barcelona slowed the tempo and conserved energy, although Yamal continued to threaten the left side of Los Piratas.
Rashford was introduced midway through the half replacing Torres. Yamal would add some gloss to the scoreline in stoppage time when he collected the ball at the edge of the box and darted inside for the umpteenth time, before curling a trademark finish into the top left corner.
